Which qualification is best?

[Brad_Sarge]

Hi All,

 

Looking for a bit of advice really. I am currently doing a level 2 appreniceship and will be doing a level 3 apprenticeship next year. I already have a level 3 qualification from college. However all of these qualififcations are quite generic IT qualifications.

I am looking to do some qualifications funded by myself to improve my "Technical Ability" on the paper side. I eventually want to move into IT management either in education or in the commercial sector.

I have been looking into a few qualifications and was wondering what qualifications you see as significant when you go to interview a new team member. Also any qualifications you may recommend.

• CCNA routing and switching
  
• ITIL Foundation
  
• Windows 70-410 Microsoft server 2012
  
• Windows 74-409 Server Virtualization
  

I believe I already know a lot about the last two and with some study can hopefully pass them however if they are not going to be relevant then I dont want to waste the money.

My other problem is often a lot of the courses are very expensive, do you think home study is enough for some qualifications.

I am very determined and happy to work as hard as possible to achive what I need to gain a good qualififcation.

 

Any help or advice is appreciated.

 

Thanks all

Bradley

[jertsy]

Hi

 

I do home study for my Microsoft exams, I use books, Pluralsight and Measureup practice tests. I have attended courses that have been good but I have also attended some that have been poor and not worth the extra money, thats why I now study at home. Having said that for CCNA I am looking for classroom study as I am starting from scratch with that.

 

Have you considered Comptia A+ or N+? That can be a good introduction to ICT Certification.

 

Hope this helps.

[DalekSec]

Server Virtualization and the Switching ones will the main two there i would say.

 

Ignore Server 2012, if you want to do one on a Server it's really gotta be 2016 now.

 

I'm guessing the ITIL Foundation is more of a general overview one, which surely you'll get from the apprenticeship anyway?

[supawat1]

I am doing T216 Cisco Networking course at The Open University and I would recommend it.

[RobD]

CCNA routing and switching was the best course I've ever done and for me one of the more difficult. I'd recommend anyone in IT do it regardless if you use cisco kit or not.

[FN-GM]

CCNA routing and switching was the best course I've ever done and for me one of the more difficult. I'd recommend anyone in IT do it regardless if you use cisco kit or not.

 

Agreed. The vast majority of the CCENT and CCNA content is not Cisco specific.

[DJ-1701]

ITIL Foundation is more of an overview of the support team structure and framework and how the teams works. It's something that companies like Capita like to train their IT Staff on. A few day course, nothing really to get excited about in my opinion, could be foundation to managing a team structure, but nothing technical.

[arwen]

ITIL is completely boring, but nearly every IT department except schools has a weird obsession with it. So it is good to have on your CV, especially if you want a management role as it's primary function is to link all the IT sections together. 5 days of near mind-numbing, common sense gibberish can save you from having to answer weird and wonderful questions in interview. As the response is " using the ITIL framework then x y and z would happen".

 

MS server courses are always good to have. If you know your way around server infrastructures reasonably well, virtual environments become easier to understand.

 

And everyone loves CCNA, it should be kept up to date, but only a few people I've ever known in IT have actually been active in renewing it before their certification runs out.

[elsiegee40]

ITIL is completely boring, but nearly every IT department except schools has a weird obsession with it. So it is good to have on your CV, especially if you want a management role as it's primary function is to link all the IT sections together. 5 days of near mind-numbing, common sense gibberish can save you from having to answer weird and wonderful questions in interview. As the response is " using the ITIL framework then x y and z would happen".

 

MS server courses are always good to have. If you know your way around server infrastructures reasonably well, virtual environments become easier to understand.

 

And everyone loves CCNA, it should be kept up to date, but only a few people I've ever known in IT have actually been active in renewing it before their certification runs out.

 

What she said... especially regarding ITIL. It is pretty much standard outside schools

[gshaw]

ITIL is completely boring, but nearly every IT department except schools has a weird obsession with it. So it is good to have on your CV, especially if you want a management role as it's primary function is to link all the IT sections together. 5 days of near mind-numbing, common sense gibberish can save you from having to answer weird and wonderful questions in interview. As the response is " using the ITIL framework then x y and z would happen".

 

MS server courses are always good to have. If you know your way around server infrastructures reasonably well, virtual environments become easier to understand.

 

And everyone loves CCNA, it should be kept up to date, but only a few people I've ever known in IT have actually been active in renewing it before their certification runs out.

 

Personally I found ITIL rather useful and taken some of the concepts like Change Management with me wherever I've gone since. Makes you think about how you run your IT service and can pick and choose the bits that work in your environment.

 

I've stayed away from any qualifications that are product-specific or need renewing every couple of years, seems like a money train for MS & co.

[steve]

I'm with @gshaw on the ITIL front. While the foundation training can be pretty dry and more about terminology that anything else, if you actually use it it can be the difference between a good IT service and a great one.

 

ITIL is only a framework / best practice so it isn't a prescriptive "how you shoud do IT" course, more of a "this is what a good IT service would involve". It provides a common language and understanding to what most IT services do already but might not cal it the same thing.

 

I did an intermidiate ITIL the other week - Operational Support and Analysis which was more indepth and you can see how it has real world applications.

 

All that said, I'd go with CCNA as it will give you a great base level of knowedge on the techical side and open more doors to you at this stage. If you go into industry, the likelyhood is the'll send you on ITIL training anyway.

[Brad_Sarge]

Thank you all once again for your replies. A user on another post recently meantioned a website ( https://www.cybrary.it ) That offers free courses and certifications of completion. Does anyone else know any other websites like this. I would be very intertested to do as many free courses as possible even if they only expand my knowlege slightly.

[hardtailstar]

Does anyone else know any other websites like this. I would be very intertested to do as many free courses as possible even if they only expand my knowlege slightly.

 

https://mva.microsoft.com/

 

Is really good, all free. I am working through bits now and you get a certificate on completion of the modules. Its not a qualification but will help towards it when you do go for a Microsoft one.

 

I would recommend the Comptia framework too.

[Brad_Sarge]

Brill thanks, Will definelty check that one out as would like to do a Microsoft one at some point.

[MatthewL]

ITIL Foundation I did this as a one day course of common sense!

 

The routing and switching would be the one I'd choose from that list.

[mjk]

In my opinion the Cisco and ITIL courses have longevity and the MS courses get outdated very quickly. The MS courses are not going to be quite so relevant in the cloud era as they have been historically. Both Cisco and ITIL are mostly vendor neutral, although there is some propriety technology in CCNA it is mostly basic networking. The Windows courses tend to apply to only windows and my experience of MS courses is that they teach you how windows works and not how the protocols / services work. This can leave you high and dry if you are confronted with a cloud service or Unix, Linux , OSX system (which make up quite a high proportion nowdays with application and server virtualisation)

Although it all rather depends upon what area you want to work in. If you envisage working as windows server specialist them it would clearly be a good choice!